Matt Heimbach, a white nationalist who calls Indiana home, makes his way into Emancipation Park during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.(Photo: Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar)Buy Photo

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Matthew Heimbach, a transplanted Hoosier who has risen to prominence in the white nationalist movement, approached the epicenter of Saturday’s rally here wearing a black combat helmet and with a bodyguard close on his heels.

But as he entered the intersection just outside Emancipation Park, Heimbach and members of his Traditionalist Workers Party were met by counterprotesters who had formed a blockade. A melee ensued, with people being flung to the ground in what was the first in a series of violent episodes that turned a graceful college town into a battleground. Later, when a car plowed into a crowd of people killing one person and injuring 19 others, the casualties were all too real.

For Heimbach, a 26-year-old Maryland native who married into an Indiana family and has come to call Paoli home, the event he worked for weeks to promote ended quickly. Within an hour of his arrival — and before it was to officially begin — Virginia State Police stepped in and declared the rally an unlawful assembly. They ordered participants to disperse.

Heimbach was unavailable for comment Saturday afternoon but was present in Emancipation Park long enough to get a face full of pepper spray. And then, as groups on both extremes of the ideological divide hurled objects and insults, Heimbach ordered his followers to push down the metal police barricades that cut the park into separate zones. Within minutes, state troopers stepped in with their order to end the gathering. It’s unclear if the actions were connected.

Ostensibly, the reason for Saturday’s rally was to protest a decision by Charlottesville to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee from the park that until recently bore his name. But, in recent interviews, Heimbach acknowledged that the event was equally about bringing together members of the extreme right, who have been prone to splintering but found common ground in Charlottesville.

“The biggest thing is a show of strength,” he said ahead of the rally. “To show that our organizations that have been divided on class, been divided on religious issues, divided on ideological grounds, can put 14 words — ‘We must secure the existence of our people and the future for white children’ — as our primary motivating factor.”

A member of a white nationalist group recovers after being hit with pepper spray from a counterprotester on the grounds of Emancipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, during a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

White nationalist David Duke makes his way onto the grounds of Emancipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, during a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A white nationalist prepares to swing his flag stick and use makeshift shields to help push his crews way through counter protesters at Emancipation Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville on Saturday, August 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A member of a white nationalist group was hit by a counterprotester on the grounds of Emancipation Park during a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A counterprotester signals to a white nationalist at Emancipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

While moving to a new location at Emancipation Park, white nationalists clashed with violent counterprotest during a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A counterprotester throws a newspaper rack at a group of white nationalists at Emancipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A white nationalist guards the entrance to Emancipation Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, August 12, 2017. The man wore a red wings pin on the collar of his shirt. According to the Detroit Free Press, "The Detroit Red Wings are exploring possible legal action after a slightly modified team logo appeared on signs held by protesters at a violent and deadly white nationalist rally in Virginia on Saturday. "
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A white nationalist is knocked unconscious by a counterprotester at Emancipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A counterprotester punches a white nationalist at Emancipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A Charlottesville Police officer breaks up a fight on the street in front of Emancipation Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, August 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

While moving to a new location at Emancipation Park white nationalists were met with counter protesters during a "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A white nationalist is knocked unconscious by a counterprotester at Emancipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney, Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A white nationalist is knocked unconscious by a counterprotester at Emancipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, August 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A white nationalist yells at a group of people after being punched in the face by a counterprotester at Emancipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

Counterprotesters take to the street in front of Emancipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A Charlottesville police officer breaks up a fight on the street in front of Emancipation Park during the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A counter protester, left, feuds with a white nationalist on the street in front of Emancipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, during the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, August 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

A white nationalist yells at his crew to push forward against the counter protesters at Emancipation Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville on Saturday, August 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

White nationalists swing their flag sticks and use makeshift shields to push their way through counter protesters at Emancipation Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville on Saturday, August 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

Matt Heimbach, a white nationalist who calls Indiana home, makes his way into Emancipation Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville on Saturday, August 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

An independent militia man watches as a group of white nationalists make their way into Emancipation Park during the 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville on Saturday, August 12, 2017.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

The car that allegedly plowed through a crowd of protestors marching through a downtown shopping district is seen after the vehicle was stopped by police several blocks away in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12, 2017.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

The car that allegedly plowed through a crowd of protestors marching through a downtown shopping district is seen after the vehicle was stopped by police several blocks away in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12, 2017.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Heimbach, like many of those rallying alongside him Saturday, sees white identity, culture and religion as increasingly endangered by a diversifying America. He sees America as a failure and says his ultimate goal is to see it carved into ethnostates, with parts set aside for whites, parts for blacks, parts for Hispanics and so on. Such a future is desirable, he and others say because they fear a white genocide is imminent, and they point to the erasure of white history in the removal of Lee’s statue as evidence.

Such views were evident Friday night when more than 200 white nationalists lit tiki torches and marched through the heart of the University of Virginia’s campus. Among their chants was: “You will not replace us.” That sentiment certainly had echoes in the planned removal of the Lee statue, but among Heimbach’s peers, it’s more personal.

“I don’t want to fast forward 40 years and look my grandchildren in the eyes and have them say, ‘Why didn’t you do anything to stop this?’ " he said recently.

Marilyn Mayo, a senior research fellow with the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, sees Heimbach as someone who has become increasingly radicalized in recent years.

“He is definitely someone who has been a rising young leader in the white supremacist movement” Mayo said. “The way I see him is he kind of bridges the gap between intellectual racists and the neo-Nazis, and he’s done that for some time.”

The dark aspects of Heimbach’s ideology aren’t limited to race. He and others in his fold are quick to blame their woes on “the Jewish power structure.” They’re apt to speak fondly of Adolf Hitler, deny the Holocaust and appreciate the leadership of strong nationalists worldwide, from Russia’s Vladimir Putin to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. He and others speak in reverent terms of David Duke, the former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, who made a rally appearance Saturday.

CLOSE

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke said the 'alt-right' protests in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017, were a "turning point" to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump.
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar

Heimbach’s ideologies collided forcefully Saturday on the streets of Charlottesville with those of groups that proudly proclaimed their diversity. First, it was the peaceful songs and prayers of clergy from across the faith and racial spectrum who arrived linked arm in arm. Later, as the morning wore on, they were followed by more militant groups — dressed in their own combat gear — chanting slogans such as “Kill All Nazis” and urging white supremacists and nationalists to die off quickly.

Saturday’s rally was the largest gathering of white nationalists in at least a decade. And, in the past year, Heimbach said they’ve drawn energy from a new source, from someone who has given voice to their concerns about immigrants, refugees and Muslims — President Donald Trump.

“He himself didn’t create anything,” Heimbach said of the movement. “But he did show where white politics are going in the United States.”

Whether Heimbach’s movement has a place to go after Charlottesville remains to be seen.

Call IndyStar reporter Robert King at (317) 444-6089. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.